Deposition of Christ

The Deposition of Christ was painted by Girolamo Romanino around 1520, likely during a period of intense activity in Brescia between 1520 and 1530, though the exact date of execution is not recorded. It originally served as the altarpiece of the altar of the Most Holy Sacrament in the church of Santi Faustino e Giovita in Brescia, where it remained in place through at least 1630, when Bernardino Faino documented it on site, and again in 1700, when Giulio Antonio Averoldi described it. The altarpiece was not moved even during the seventeenth-century reconstruction of the church.

Following the suppression of the monastery by the Jacobin municipal government in 1797, the painting was removed from the altar and stored in a hall of the Biblioteca Queriniana. It subsequently appeared on an 1800 list of requisitioned works slated for private sale, and by 1807 it was recorded in the art collection of Count Paolo Brognoli. In 1841 it was sold to the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin. The work was destroyed on 5 May 1945 during wartime events.

Originally serving as the altarpiece for the Church of Santi Faustino e Giovita in Brescia, the painting was requisitioned by Napoleonic authorities in 1797. After temporary storage and inclusion in an 1800 sales list, it entered the collection of Count Paolo Brognoli by 1807. The work was acquired by the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin in 1841, where it remained until its destruction during the fire at the Friedrichshain flak tower on May 5, 1945.

Consequently, the artwork no longer exists and is known today only through black-and-white photographs and written descriptions, including a detailed color account published in 1909.

The Deposition of Christ was created by Girolamo Romanino around 1520 as a religious painting for the altar of the Holy Sacrament in the church of Saints Faustino and Giovita in Brescia. Originally located in its devotional context, the work was seized by the Napoleonic authorities in 1797 and transferred to the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin in 1841, where it remained until its destruction during the Flakturm Friedrichshain fire on May 5, 1945. Contemporary accounts praised the composition for its emotional intensity, with Carlo Ridolfi calling it one of the artist’s finest works and Bernardino Faino noting its 'nobly crafted' Deposition in 1630.

The painting’s appearance was documented through Hans Posse’s 1909 color description, which recorded details such as Christ’s yellow-ochre body, the Virgin’s dark blue mantle, and the varied garments of the mourning figures. Though now lost, the work was recognized in 18th- and 19th-century scholarship as a significant example of Lombard religious art, featured in Averoldi’s 1700 inventory and later studied in Nova’s 1994 monograph on Romanino.

The Deposition of Christ by Girolamo Romanino was originally displayed as an altar panel in the Church of Santi Faustino e Giovita in Brescia, where it remained in situ until the late 18th century. Historical records indicate it was admired by contemporaries such as Bernardino Faino in 1630 and Carlo Ridolfi in 1648, who praised its compositional nobility. The work was removed from the altar in the early 19th century, entered private collections including that of Paolo Brognoli, and was acquired by the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin in 1841.

It suffered destruction during the Flakturm Friedrichshain bombing in May 1945. Today its legacy persists through archival documentation, notably Hans Posse’s 1909 color description and photographic records, which preserve details of its composition and palette for scholarly study.

Girolamo Romanino's Deposition of Christ, painted around 1520, is a religious narrative work from the Mannerist period.